Blowing Up A Democratic Meme: The Most Educated States Voted For Obama

This chart, which supposedly shows that all smart people voted for Obama, has been popping up all over the place.

Of course, since we have exit poll data, we don’t have to look at states and take wild guesses about whom the people with college degrees voted for in 2012.

In actuality, Romney won Americans with college degrees 51%-49%, while Obama won those without college degrees 51%-49% and Americans with post-grad degrees 55%-45%. So, in other words, it’s a split. The most educated and least educated voters went for Obama while, contrary to the impression that chart would give you, the majority of Americans with college degrees went for Romney.